Who Wrote The Outsiders?

The novel The Outsiders was written by S.E. Hinton in 1967. Hinton, who was born in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, in 1948 and raised on a ranch. Her father was a rancher and her mother was a teacher. At the age of fifteen she began writing her first novel, The Outsiders, which was published when she was just eighteen years old. The novel was inspired by Hinton’s own experiences as a teenager in Tulsa, Oklahoma; it follows the story of Ponyboy Curtis and his friends who become involved in a conflict with a rival gang known as the Socs. In total, Hinton wrote five novels: Rumble Fish, Tex, That Was Then This is Now, The Burning World, and Taming the Star Runner. After its publication in 1967, The Outsiders became an instant bestseller. Since then, it has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. S. E. Hinton has written more than 40 books, including several sequels to The Outsiders. In 1977, Hinton won the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association for her “substantial and lasting contribution to young adult literature”. Hinton currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband. She is still writing new books, and has plans to write a prequel to The Outsiders.